“Yes,” said Sherlock Holmes. “The proof of its intrinsic simplicity is, that without any help, I was able to name the criminal within three days.”

      “That is true,” said I.

      “The grand thing here is to be able to reason backwards[67]. This is very useful, but people do not practice it much. In the everyday affairs of life it is more practical to reason forwards. There are fifty men who can reason synthetically, and only one man who can reason analytically.”